Here is a perfect opportunity for the community to get involved in deciding the role the arts will play in the future of our city. In an economic climate where the arts are being cut from school programs and local arts organizations are struggling to survive, we all need to speak out about the value of the arts in our everyday lives.

Tonight, March 2, five new pieces of legislation will be presented at the Long Beach City Council meeting that are designed to support the arts and culture in our city. The legislation includes:
* Creating a Blue Ribbon panel to improve funding for the arts
* Abolishing the obsolete restrictions on street performance
* Streamlining the entertainment permit process to encourage performance
* Exempting struggling artists from the Business License Tax
* Adopting the Cultural Master Plan created last year by arts advocates

If the arts are important in your life, then come to the City Council Meeting tonight and be heard. Show the City Council that the people of this city value art.

Date:                         Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Time:                         5:00-7:30pm

Location:             City Hall – Council Chambers – 333 West Ocean, Long Beach

On Sunday I attended an intriguing and unique event at the Center Theater in Long Beach. Ensuring the Future of Humans on Earth is a Design Problem was a panel discussion co-sponsored by the Aquarium of the Pacific and 5D: The Future of Immersive Design. Jerry Schubel, the Director of the Aquarium, moderated a discussion with four panelists: Tom Bowman, President of Bowman Design Group and founder of the Climate Solutions Project; award winning environmental author Stuart Brand; Dr. Sylvia Earle, Explorer in Residence at the National Geographic Society; and Writer/Director Jerry Zucker. The premise of the discussion centered around the idea that human activity has placed the earth on a path toward global warming and the possibility of a changed and bleak future unless drastic changes are made, as well as the role that design might play in solving some of those issues.

If you have ever heard Jerry Schubel speak, you know he is a contemplative scientist with a good sense of humor, which makes him, in my opinion, a very good moderator in a discussion that can take a very serious tone. Of course, Jerry Zucker, of movies such as Airplane, Naked Gun and Ruthless People, helped keep some lightness to the discussion as well.

I find the idea that design can help create positive change in the world intriguing. New ways to carry and purify water in the developing world and hybrid cars are just a few of the ways that design has made change. First there was a discussion of the problem and the various scientific data available. Much of the discussion focused on weaning ourselves off of fossil fuels and replacing them with more renewable and less polluting sources of energy, such as, solar, wind and nuclear. I was a little surprised that there seemed to be much support for the nuclear power idea. It appears that the US is falling drastically behind even China when it comes to the use of nuclear power. We might all say, sure, solar, wind and nuclear (maybe) power will take care of much of the global warming issues that are caused by using coal and natural gas, but Dr. Sylvia Earle pointed out that even these so-called green energy sources take up space, displace species and cause change. My friend Helen pointed out to me that large-scale installation of wind turbines are displacing indigenous bird species. Dr. Earle was not saying, don’t do it, she was simply pointing out that for years, humans have attempted to control and “design” nature to suit their own purposes without much consideration of the micro and macro consequences of those actions. Look where that has gotten us. It is time that we begin to consider the effects of our actions in whatever we do and to realize that no mater what we do, we make change to the natural world.

On a smaller scale, the panel discussed how much change can be made by the individual in terms of conservation at home. One panelist stated that we could each cut our carbon footprint in a year by up to 75%, but of course the discussion was too short to go into exactly how to do that.

There was also discussion of the politicization of science related to global warming by the republicans and the democrats, as well as the difficulty of developing global consciousness of the issues and issues related to the developing world.

Overall, I think the panel was very successful and I hope that more events like this make their way to Long Beach. Planning the discussion right after the TED conference was also a good idea. The panel was extremely informative without being preachy. I wish more people had attended the event, but that seems to be an ongoing issue with such events in Long Beach. I was also disappointed that the design aspect of the talk was somewhat of a sidebar—I think it could have been front and center to the discussion. Of course I don’t think you can get to that discussion without the one I just described. Perhaps Jerry Schubel will do a follow-up panel to this one.